


Those who Train and Train

by Zakad



Series: All My Ghosts are at Rest [3]
Category: Bleach, Naruto
Genre: Feminism, Gen, Makeup is Warpaint, Strong Haruno Sakura
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-29 23:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18303707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zakad/pseuds/Zakad
Summary: Sakura wants to be a great shinobi and a great kunoichi, but sometimes it seems like being both is impossible. Luckily, Ichigo raised two little sisters in his time and is something of an expert in impossible (and also cosmetics).





	Those who Train and Train

Sakura sighs heavily and pokes at the collection of cosmetics in front of her. Normally, she would be happy to play with her mom's makeup but today…

She sighs again and glances at Naruto and Sasuke. The boys learned a new grapple during their split lessons. Sakura is already far enough behind in terms of physical abilities. She doesn't want to spend time on girls' stuff when she could be training to keep up with her friends.

A warm hand comes to rest lightly on top of her head. Sakura tilts her head back to meet Kurosaki-san's concerned gaze.

"Is everything okay, Sakura-chan?" he asks.

"It's fine," says Sakura lowering her eyes again.

"Those are an awful lot of sighs for  _fine,_ " says Kurosaki-san gently.

Sakura sits quietly savoring the feeling of an adult paying attention. She isn't like Naruto-kun or Sasuke-kun. She still has her parents, and she knows they loved her. But ever since she decided to attend the Academy and become a ninja, they have become a little more distant, a little more confused about who Sakura is. They are civilians who don't understand the warrior their daughter is becoming.

Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei don't have that problem. They have only every known her as Naruto's friend and fellow ninja-in-training. Whatever lives they lived before coming to Konoha—and Sakura knows in her bones that they are more than just a fireworks maker and a civilian doctor—let them see the girl she is now and the shinobi she will someday be. None of the other civilian-born children in their class have that. She's not sure if the shinobi-born ones do either.

"I don't want to do my homework," admits Sakura at last.

"Why not?" asks Kurosaki-san. He doesn't sound surprised or disappointed. Just curious. It's such a relief.

"We had split lessons today," explains Sakura.

"I don't know what that means," admits Kurosaki-san.

"The boys got extra combat practice and the girls had kunoichi lessons," says Sakura and the words sound bitter to her ears.

Kurosaki-san chokes on air and emits a garbled burble. Sakura glances up at him in concern. Kurosaki-san has gone all pale. There's a flicker of anger in his eyes and his mouth twists like he's bitten something sour. He's wearing almost the exact same expression as her mother did when Sakura told her about the split lessons. The similarity shocks Sakura and makes her wonder what's so upsetting about kunoichi lessons.

Kurosaki-san is much better at hiding his feelings than Sakura's mother. When he notices her watching, his smooths faces into polite curiosity. Any hint of negative judgement is gone. Sakura is impressed. Successful shinobi have to learn how to control their features or risk getting caught during infiltration missions. Sakura has a bad habit of letting her irritation show. She blames her overly large forehead which highlights her pulsing veins.

"Did you not like your kunoichi lessons?" asks Kurosaki-san. His tone is completely neutral.

Sakura looks down at her lap. She has laced her fingers together without noticing and they've gone completely white from being squeezed so hard.

"They weren't too bad, I guess," mutters Sakura.

"But?" asks Kurosaki-san.

"But all we did was etiquette lessons and walk around with stuff on our heads and learn how to put on makeup!" cried Sakura. "I already know how to set a table and how to put on makeup. I'm a girl! And Ino and Hinata were better at  _everything_. And the boys…"

"What about the boys?" asks Kurosaki-san patient as ever.

"The boys got extra combat practice! They learned a new grapple. I'm already so far behind Naruto and Sasuke in combat. How can I catch up while I'm wasting my time with etiquette lessons and makeup!" demands Sakura.

Hot wet drops fall onto her clenched fists. Sakura looks down and is surprised to find that she's crying.

Only this morning Sakura was excited to attend the girls-only lessons. She wants to be a strong kunoichi, a person other girls can admire the way Sakura admires Ino. But she feels cheated instead. She doesn't want to become a good kunoichi at the expense of being a good shinobi.

To her shame, a small part of Sakura is embarrassed that she came after Ino  _and_  Hinata in their exercises. In their usual lessons, she is close to matching or passing both Clan-girls. But today Sakura fell behind in an easy lesson that even a  _civilian_  woman could execute flawlessly. Her mother is a perfect hostess. She would have tsked over Sakura's imprecise place settings and wobbly balance just like their kunoichi-instructor.

Kurosaki-san lets her cry. He waves off the boys when they notice her distress and rubs her back during through worst of her sobbing. But he doesn't tell her to calm down or that there's nothing to cry about, so she lets the tears flow until they stop.

When she finishes, Kurosaki-san hands her handkerchief and a glass of chilled fruit juice. Sakura accepts both with relief and cleans her face. She drains half the juice and presses the cool glass to her hot cheeks. Her face goes all red and blotchy when she cries and it clashes something awful with her hair. Sakura tries very hard not to cry where anyone can see.

"Thank you," Sakura says once she can get real words past her throat. "I know it's dumb to cry about coming third." Today she was worse than third in a lot of things, but she doesn't want to think about it any more.

"It's not dumb," says Kurosaki-san firmly. "You're under a lot of pressure to do well, and unlike civilian students your age, you're learning vital survival skills."

Tsubame-sensei said something similar at the start of the lesson. Sakura hadn't paid as much attention as usual. Too disheartened by the lack-luster lesson plan to listen properly.

"I think you are making one mistake though," says Kurosaki-san.

Sakura tenses again and looks up at him miserably. He could spot a mistake already?

Kurosaki-san smiles at her, the smile he reserves for Naruto and Sasuke when they've had an accident but can't bear to be scowled at, and Sakura wonders what she looks like to deserve that expression.

"Don't compare your progress to Naruto and Sasuke or any of your other classmates. Use them to set goals if you want. But when it comes time to judge your progress, compare yourself to Sakura of yesterday or last week or last month," says Kurosaki-san.

"What do you mean?" asks Sakura.

"Can you run longer and faster than you did this time last year?" asks Kurosaki-san.

"Of course!" says Sakura.

"Do your kunai hit with more accuracy? Are your punches stronger?" asks Kurosaki-san.

Sakura nods firmly. She is much better at both of those activities especially after becoming real friends with Sasuke and Naruto.

"Can you go through your kata faster than when you learned them? With fewer mistakes? Can you form all the hand-signs for jutsu without skipping any or saying the names?" continues Kurosaki-san.

"I can!" says Sakura. "I can do all of those things!"

"Then you're progressing, Sakura-chan. Don't worry about not being as strong as Naruto or as accurate as Sasuke or even as practiced as Ino or as balanced as Hinata. Focus on becoming the best version of Sakura and you will succeed," says Kurosaki-san.

Sakura can feel her heart swelling. "I can do that."

"Good," says Kurosaki-san firmly.

Sakura looks down to hide her face. She's happy and embarrassed about it. Being a civilian-born student means that her teachers and parents are always surprised when she's the best in class at anything. It's nice to hear someone saying Sakura will do well just because she's her. She catches sight of her mother's makeup and her mood sinks again.

"I still don't want to do my homework," she admits.

"What do you have to do?" asks Kurosaki-san.

"We're supposed to use the makeup we have around the house to alter our appearance," explains Sakura. "Tsubame-sensei showed us. She cleaned off half of her face and looked completely different!"

Kurosaki-san nods wisely. "Good contouring can do that."

Sakura's jaw drops.

"Actually, that's a pretty important lesson for the boys to learn too," says Kurosaki-san. He raises his voice to yell across the yard. "Naruto, Sasuke, come get something to drink!" He looks at Sakura. "Have them teach you the grapple they learned today. Then after Ishida gets back we can all go by the pharmacy and pick up the basics. I don't think that foundation matches your skin tone."

"You want me to teach Naruto and Sasuke to put on makeup?' asks Sakura dubiously. She's not going to ask how Kurosaki-san knows about the foundation with just a glance. Her mother had said the same thing.

The boys are in hearing range for Sakura's question. Naruto yelps in dismay and Sasuke stumbles to a halt.

"Sometimes you won't be able to chakra on a disguise or you'll have someone nearby who can sense it," says Kurosaki-san with the voice of experience. "Ishida and I can help you if you need it, Sakura-chan. And I bet your mom knows how to contour too."

Ishida-sensei and Kurosaki-san have helped her before with things like this. Ishida-sensei had even come by her house last year and explained to Sakura and her parents that a "diet" for a young shinobi was a calorie-rich, nutrient-packed meal plan and not a traditional civilian weight-loss program. Sakura had needed more food than a civilian child her age not less. Since then planning out the family's weekly meals had become one of the few ways Sakura could still bond with her mom. If this makeup thing worked out, maybe they could share another.

"Okay," says Sakura not totally convinced but willing to try.

Sasuke and Naruto are more dubious. They are perfectly willing to show Sakura the new grapple and the three of them tumble across the yard, practicing on each other, but they plead for intervention from Ishida-sensei when he gets back from the hospital.

Ishida-sensei puts his foot down, agreeing with Kurosaki-san that the boys should learn this skill too. Sakura doesn't know why Naruto or Sasuke would expect otherwise. And they all march out to the closest pharmacy to buy cosmetics.

Shopping together is always fun. Naruto and Sasuke are dismayed at how much stuff a woman needs to look nice, but Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei aren't remotely phased. They even buy a few things for Sakura, including new foundation and contouring brushes, but mostly they point out things that Sakura might want to look at with her mother.

Sakura is equally grateful for the money they spent on her and for the money they didn't spend knowing she'd want to share this experience with her mom. Everyone tells her that boys aren't sensitive and men aren't much better, but with Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei as an example, Sakura has high hopes for Naruto and Sasuke.

At Naruto's house, which Sakura still catches herself thinking of as a small mansion until she remembers the entire Uchiha compound lying empty, Sakura coaches Naruto and Sasuke through cleaning their new brushes and tools and applying makeup in just the right way to disguise their bone-structure.

Kurosaki-san applies his own cosmetics, ones he already owns and retrieves from the bathroom before they begin, with a deft hand. Sakura had guessed but now she knows he's done this before. Predictably, his half-painted face—the other half left clear for comparison—looks much better than hers and way better than either Naruto or Sasuke manages. Sakura doesn't mind as much as she thought she would.

In comparison, or maybe as a lure, Ishida-sensei breaks out a box filled with what Tsubame-sensei calls "the good stuff" or professional grade stage makeup. When he finishes, and does his entire face, Ishida-sensei looks a lot like himself if he were fifty years older. He is very dignified.

"Those are nice wrinkles, Ishida-sensei," says Sakura. They're not overdone and they follow the natural path of his face. She's pretty sure Tsubame-sensei would be impressed if he saw.

"Thank you, Sakura-chan," says Ishida-sensei. "I've had some practice."

"Who taught you, Uryu-sensei?" asks Sasuke.

Ishida-sensei pauses in putting the last of his facepaint away. "Eriko-san was a friend of mine and a stage-makeup artist for a theater troupe I made costumes for. I asked her how do this specifically and when she saw I was good at it, she force-fed me the rest of it."

Sakura isn't surprised that Ishida-sensei had made costumes once upon a time. There's a whole hobby-room full of different clothes he's made and fabrics for clothes he will make. He's even embroidered some of her and Sasuke's clothes. Sakura does want to know why Ishida-sensei wanted to learn how to make himself look old when it doesn't sound like he did acting himself.

"Do you know how to do that, Ichi-nii?" asks Naruto.

"I do," says Kurosaki-san.

His face also looks a little older but also distinctly feminine. Sakura realizes it's because he followed her instructions so exactly. Tsubame-sensei was teaching a classroom full of girls how to look like different, more mature girls. They'll learn how to make themselves look more like boys in a later lesson.

"But, I already knew how to do this," continues Kurosaki-san gesturing at his face, "from teaching Karin and Yuzu."

Sakura stills at the names. She knows from Naruto that Kurosaki-san used to have two little sisters but that they passed away a long time ago, and that his mother died when they were all young, and that Kurosaki-san's father wasn't bad exactly but that he desperately needed a co-parent. (Sakura has a feeling that was a quote from Ishida-sensei rather than an observation Naruto made on his own.) Kurosaki-san almost never mentions the twins directly. Ishida-sensei is usually the one to explain how Kurosaki-san's knowledge or actions relate to sisters.

Now that Sakura thinks about it, she can guess why Kurosaki-san wasn't bothered by her sobbing all over him this afternoon. Her father usually panics and directs Sakura to her mother when she starts crying. Kurosaki-san probably had to help his sisters with that too after their mother died.

"I always wondered who taught you how," says Ishida-sensei.

Kurosaki-san accepts a hand mirror from Sasuke to reexamine his face. There's not enough room in the bathroom for all of them to fit, so they are using the few mirrors that can be scrounged up from around the house.

" _Online videos_  for the basics," says Kurosaki using his unintelligible foreign words. "Soi Fon for the hard stuff."

Ishida-sensei almost drops his makeup box. Only his lightning fast reflexes save what is sure to be several hundred to several thousand ryo worth of damaged goods.

"She did not!" protests Ishida-sensei. "Soi Fon hated you!"

Kurosaki-san shrugs casually at this accusation. "I think she thought I was a security risk."

Sakura suppresses a squeal of dismay or possibly excitement. She exchanges a wide-eyed look with Naruto and Sasuke. They almost never hear this much about Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei's past in one sitting. When asked directly about these sorts of things, they both change the subject or give long winding answer that make no sense. This is an unprecedented opportunity!

"For Soi Fon that was essentially the same thing," says Ishida-sensei.

Kurosaki-san doesn't bother to deny this. "Anyway, I asked Yoruichi how to the makeup thing. I figured she'd know being the Shihoin Princess and super  _onmitsukido_. She ordered Soi Fon to teach me instead."

Ishida-sensei subsides at this explanation. "That at least makes sense." He squints at Kurosaki-san. "Did she try to poison you?"

"Only a few times," says Kurosaki-san.

"What?!" yells Naruto. "Someone tried to kill you?"

Kurosaki-san and Ishida-sensei both blanch having obviously forgotten they have an audience. Sasuke and Sakura both scowl at Naruto, but he's too busy being upset over a clearly non-fatal poisoning attempt.

"It's was a long time ago. And I'm fine now," says Kurosaki-san mirroring Sakura's own train of thought. "You all keep practicing and I'll get dinner ready. Are you eating with us, Sakura-chan?"

"Please, Kurosaki-san," says Sakura. "That way I can practice more too."

Kurosaki-san nods and all but runs away. He's even forgotten to take his makeup off so half his face still looks like the slightly older woman version of himself. At least, Ishida-sensei has the sense to excuse himself clean up.

When the adults are gone, Sakura and Sasuke both whirl on Naruto.

"I couldn't help it!" he protests. "Who would even want to kill Ichi-nii?"

Sakura hates to admit it, but that's a good question. Kurosaki-san is unequivocally a good person. Everyone who meets Kurosaki-san ends up liking him or at least respecting him.

"Someone who thinks he's a security risk," says Sasuke slowly.

"This is a shinobi village," says Sakura pointedly. "Shinobi are paid to kill just as many bad people as good people."

Naruto looks dismayed for a brief second. Sakura suspects that spending too much time with Kurosaki-san has twisted moral compass strongly to the good despite Ishida-sensei's near-sinister campaign of vengeance against the Academy teachers. (It hadn't taken Sakura long to realize why the school had such a high turnover rate among the teaching staff once she became friends with Naruto. Luckily Iruka-sensei was qualified to teach at all levels.)

"Whatever, it was a long time ago," says Sasuke looking away from them both.

Sakura starts and then feels sweeping shame. Sasuke knows better than any of them that good people are targets of shinobi. Uchiha Itachi had killed his entire clan, except for Sasuke, and most of them were police or civilians. Naruto, too, picks up on this mood when usually he'd worry them to death about the possibility of someone hurting his Ichi-nii.

"Show us how to do this again, Sakura-chan!" insists Naruto. "I bet we can look like completely different people by the time dinner's ready."

"You'll need more time than that to practice!" protests Sakura. "It's not like you're drawing an exploding tag!"

"Hey, I practiced at that and got really good," says Naruto. "I can do this too."

"Well, I'm going to do it better," says Sakura.

"You're on," says Naruto. "Sasuke, you in?"

Sasuke huffs in annoyance but uncurls from himself and picks up his own brush. "There's no way either of you are beating me."

Naruto and Sasuke lose sight of the goal of doing better and both try to finish applying their makeup first. They're both disasters when they're done. Then they attack each other with liquid eyeliner and Sakura guesses they really won't be recognizable at all by dinner.

Sakura chooses to take her time with her makeup. It is her homework after all. She needs to give it her best effort. When she's done, she compares the right side of her face to the left. The lines are little cleaner. The various powders blended a little more evenly. It's a small but noticeable improvement.

Sakura smiles into the mirror and makes progress.

**Author's Note:**

> I have many more Sakura feels than I initially realized and do not accept the retcon that her parents were weak shinobi instead of civilians. That way lies madness and illogical character development.
> 
> As a doctor, Uryu got to the point where people were suspicious of his young looks much faster than Ichigo, who was a police officer, and had to do something about it fast. Ichigo got the idea from Uryu and rolled with it.
> 
> Thanks for reading. Please review!


End file.
